


The Clearing

by lasvegas_lights



Category: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (TV 2016)
Genre: Comfort/Angst, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-05
Updated: 2018-05-05
Packaged: 2019-05-02 16:54:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14549166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lasvegas_lights/pseuds/lasvegas_lights
Summary: Early in the morning, deep in the middle of the woods, Amanda is recovering from a nightmare. Martin knows how to help without saying a word.





	The Clearing

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to intricatecakes for giving it the once over!
> 
> Hope you like it - It was a challenge to myself to write a fic with no dialogue, hope it works :)

The wood cracked and hissed in the fire-pit, wisps of smoke slowly rose up and disappeared into the early morning air. The sun had only just started to rise over the forest clearing the van had parked in, shards of light breaking through the treeline and skimming Amanda’s toes, peeking out from under the blanket she was buried deep under.  
  
With every breath she puffed out a cloud of condensation, the temperature bitingly fresh. Every few moments, the air is filled instead with exhales of cigarette smoke. Amanda had been awake for hours and she was down to her last stick in the pack so she was making it last.  
  
Whilst the hours passed slow and almost silently, inside her head there was chaos and noise bouncing around. When the birds started to wake, her attention was drawn to the different calls coming in from all directions. Surrounded by a hundred calls and songs, the urge to join them filled her, but then she was reminded by the four unconscious men behind her and the urge faded away.  
  
The fire had still been orange when she had woken sharply, a bitter taste in her mouth and a stabbing pain in her chest from the deep ragged lungfuls of oxygen she had sucked in as she overcame the frightening images in her head. She fucking hated nightmares.  
  
Somehow, the others didn’t stir at the gasp she let out, or from the way she scrambled from her makeshift bed in a panic. She pressed a hand to her mouth and held her breath as Cross snuffled and shifted onto his side. Sure that he was still deep under, she let out the air she had been holding and stumbled away from the pile of leather and limbs. On weak legs, she made it as far as the dying fire and dropped down beside it, her back propped up against a felled log.  
  
She hadn’t noticed the tears, not at first. The moisture dropped onto the hand gripping the edge of the blanket wrapped around her. She willed the tightness in her throat away and let the cool air dry the wetness from her cheeks.  
  
It had been pitch black when she had been wrenched from sleep. Logically Amanda knew that sitting in a dark wood in the middle of the night should put her on high alert. Every horror film she’d ever watched told her that the woods weren’t safe. But it was the forest that calmed her, made her feel hidden, secure. Out in the woods she could forget the fraught relationship with her brother, the government agency nipping at their heels and everything else which tied to her like anchors.  
  
The woods weren’t the only thing that made her feel safe. The Rowdy 3, her boys, were her protectors. They had freed her from a life trapped in a suburban bungalow, trapped by a disease that had left her afraid to step outside. Her life with the Rowdy 3 was dangerous, sometimes frenetic, always an adventure and the closest thing she had come to actually living since being diagnosed.  
  
She wasn’t surprised that it was Martin who woke first, just surprised it had taken him so long to realise she wasn’t beside him. The eldest of the Rowdy 3 felt responsible for them all, but especially her. He had been the one to send her away when Blackwing had come for them. She hadn’t understood at the time, why he had treated like a damsel that needed saving. After, reunited with her boys, she appreciated what Martin had done for her, what he continued to do for her.  
  
It was only when he lowered himself down by her side that she noticed his presence. She blinked and twisted her head to look his way as he settled on the ground, his knees drawn up to his chest and his arms resting on the log behind him. He looked back at her sleepily. His glasses were missing and his hair was pressed against his forehead. He was normally so put together, eyes sharp and focus sharper. Only people he really trusted got to see him at his most vulnerable. Being one of the people he trusted felt like receiving a gift she didn’t know how to repay.  
  
Somehow, she knew he knew. He narrowed his eyes at her and seemed to read her like an open book. Silently, he lifted his hand and his thumb gently traced the dried tracks of tears down her cheek. The tenderness with which he touched her surprised her and she found himself leaning into his hand and the warmth he was radiating.  
  
She wasn’t weak in his eyes and for that she was grateful. He and the others had had their share of nightmares too thanks to a life spent tested on and tortured. They looked after each other, comforting after a nightmare, celebrating a night slept through and chasing away the demons together.  
  
With a practised ease, Martin shifted until his side was pressed against Amanda and raised his arm over her head and rested it across her shoulders. He gave a beckoning nod and tugged her closer and she let him, tucking in tight and dropping her head onto his shoulder.    
  
He didn’t ask her to speak and said nothing himself. Instead, his eyes turned to the clear blue sky. It would be a nice day. Later when the sun was higher and the others were awake they would pack up and find somewhere new to explore. Beer would be consumed and Amanda would shake off the horrors of the night and smile until her face hurt at the Rowdy 3’s antics. Until then, Amanda closed her eyes, let out a long sigh and with Martin watching over her, fell back to sleep.


End file.
